A Very In Between Christmas
by Galimatias
Summary: A Somewhere in Between Christmas one shot. Lillie has never been one for Christmas. But that doesnt mean she cant learn a thing or two about the infamous gift giving season. Like how it can make the most dangerousof villains friendly. Sort of.


**Yes this is late. I know! Christmas is over. The holidays are over. Everything is OVER! But this took so long to make. And really, how could I scrap it after all the work I had put it! So here it it! A Somewhere in Between Christmas Special of sorts. I really hope I got this right. I don't celebrate Christmas. As you can clearly see the whole, what the holiday stands for thing is really low key. Just happiness and stuff like that. I don't know the whole story. But this wasn't so much about Christmas as it was about what it meant to Lillie. So it worked out ok!**

**This does contain spoilers, but nothing major! Yay! Secrets are fun to keep!**

**Ok, now onto the special!**

**But before that, I'd just like to thank all the reviewers of SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN. You guys are the best, and I honestly couldn't have gotten as far as I have with it without you guys. I wouldn't have written this without you guy! SO THANK YOU!**

**NOOOOW onto the special!**

**P.S. Skippy is the boy Rabbit from one of the more underappreciated Disney flicks Robin Hood.**

* * *

It wasn't as if Christmas time was her favorite time of year. She certainly didn't enjoy it. But at the same time she didn't _not_ enjoy it. It was just another day to her. Another group of meaningless hours of shuffling papers and wracking her brain for stories that would please her boss. William never even gave any of his worker Christmas related stories, for fear of being 'normal'. He strongly believed in being the one different source of news for the public, one that looked beyond the general mass's idea of what was right and did their own thing.

His workers had showed him that, although in other situations that might have been appreciated, the numbers around this time dropped as people looked on magazine covers for anything that contained lights, presents or ways to eat slim over the holiday season. Mr. Pierce, never being one to budge, didn't and stayed firmly on the pedestal of assurance, positive that one day his rebel attitude might catch on.

It had never mattered to her. She didn't care for the holiday, so didn't ever step up and defend it with a mighty swoosh of her heroic cape. She just wrote what he gave her and wrote it well. That was all there was to it. Once in a while she did pass a store with lights and think that maybe a few of them over her door would be an idea. Maybe just a hint of green or red, or maybe a splash of tinsel would make the holiday season something she could regard with a certain amount of that well known 'cheer'. But after looking in her wallet she usually decided that food was more important then a shiny piece of factory produced happiness. And then she went on her way.

The whole attitude about this particular time had begun with her parents. In fact, everything she did and didn't like started with them, for they were the ones who usually triggered her most violent emotions about certain topics. They had never really celebrated it in Euranona. The whole street would be lined with lights, Christmas trees wilting under the hot Southern sun. Tinsel fading under the layers of dust. And the gears of animatronics jammed with tons of sand. It never dulled anyone's spirits. They just added onto the displays. As the saying went "everything's big in Texas."

But their house would star bare. Totally and completely stripped of anything but a single green wreath that hung on the dark wood door, put there so that her mother could stop getting complaints from the neighbors that they didn't have enough good ol' Christmas in them. She claimed that if that continued she'd look ten years age, and goodness knows her perfection couldn't stand that. She wasn't against Botox. But she didn't want to resort to it.

It was also to please Lillie, who had begged for years to see a Christmas tree, or a single light. That only lasted from the age of three to when she reached the age of six. By then the reality of her situation had set in, and there was no more talk of anything that had to do with Chris Cringle.

Although Lillie hadn't visited her parents in four years, she still knew in her blood that the house with nothing but a wreath on the door would still be her former one, and that Christmas time hadn't changed for her parents at all.

Now that Lillie was older she did realize that she could have changed if she had wanted to. But something in her told her it was just too much work. So she stuck to her ways, appreciating the day as much as any other day of the year, with a subtle amount of excitement and the security of her own well being.

Of course there were other reasons besides her families decorating situation. There was the presents, the most extravagant one from her parents was an encyclopedia on diseases both common and foreign and a first aid kit with instructions from how to apply band aids to CPR. Her friends gave her occasional gifts, but usually it was a small work exchange, never held at a party. Amaryllis had once given her a gift certificate to a store and she had responded with a similar token of gratitude. They had thanked on another, hugged and then put the cards into their wallets, awaiting a time where they would both have more then ten minutes to spare. The card was still in her wallet and that had been three years ago. And with the amount of extra money she had to spend, she never went on shopping sprees. To her, the holidays weren't an option to spend her moderate paycheck on things she could buy slowly over time. They just weren't.

The last reason why was possibly the silliest. She had believed it since she was young. And somehow the idea had stuck into adulthood and still caused her a small amount of disappointment that often times stun into grief. And that reason had been snow. Just snow. One of the reasons she had moved up north had been to see the stuff, and even now with all the global warming and shifting of clouds or whatever the weatherman were saying no snow had fallen. It was something she had watched for ever since she stepped foot in New York. At times, even in the blistering heat of the summer, she had found her self looking towards the sky, watching for one of those small white flakes to twirl down, catch on a breeze and dance. No such luck had befallen her yet, and she was scared it never would. So her snow had been reduced to post cards that now only gathered dust in a scrapbook that sat in her closet.

So now as she walked through the overcrowded streets of Disney her mind was in a place far different from everyone else's. She pushed past the strange cartoon people, occasionally slipping slightly on patches of black ice and practically jogging down the length of road to get to work. She had long ago lost Anastasia and Jasper. They had gotten lost in the crowd, even when their heights were an advantage over almost every person in the street. Or perhaps it was the other way around? Maybe with her small height she was able to weave around better?

Who knew.

All she did know at that moment was that if she didn't go faster she'd be late for work and god knows what her boss would do to her then. She picked up the pace once more, skidding a few inches on some ice and then regaining her composure, she scurried off to work.

* * *

"Oh Lillie! Have you ever seen anything so beautiful!" Cooed Snow White, dragging a piece of fuzzy red tinsel through her pale fingers. "I just love red!" She sighed, drifting off into one of the stupors she seemed to go into often. "I _love_ Christmas." She stayed like that for a few moments, then jolted herself awake, her too happy smile aimed in Lillie's direction. "What about you?"

"Hmm?" Lillie looked up from where she had been writing another movie review and slapped her computer closed, not wanting Snow to see her writing. "What about me, what?"

"Christmas?"

"Oh. I'm okay with it, I guess."

If Snow White's jaw had gone down any farther it would have hit the floor. "Okay with it! Okay! Why Lillie! Christmas is only the greatest time of the year!"

"Mhmm…" Lillie hummed, opening her computer and getting back to her work.

"I mean, look at all of the lights and colors and sounds and-"

"Snow."

"What?" Snow turned. "Yes?"

"No not you! I mean, real snow. Where's the real snow?"

The not precipitate Snow cocked her head. "I don't know! I mean, I guess it's coming soon but… it really doesn't snow much here. Maybe in the farther North of Disney. But no one travels much this time of year."

"Yeah, well. Whatever."

Snow cocked her head again. "Were you waiting anxiously for it?"

Lillie raised her head, her eyebrow popping up. "Snow, isn't it time for you to get to work?"

"Yes, but what about-"

"Work Snow. Now."

The pale girl blushed ferociously and shuffled to her desk, plopping delicately down on her chair before staring on her column.

Lillie rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Mickey had assigned her this job to keep up with this charade that she was, as he put it, somewhere between an editor and some other job. She didn't even know anymore. But whatever it was, here she was stuck conducting an office of Cartoons who wrote for the Disney Post. To her it was both a step up and a leap down. A leap down because… well… she was conducting an office of _cartoon_ characters. A step up because at least she was leading something.

But in the end of the day, she hated the job. She wasn't ever allowed to write herself, and so sometimes snuck in her own small blurbs about how she truly felt on a subject matter. That, of course, wasn't in any way like the real thing. At least in her old job, even with her less then satisfactory boss, she had been allowed to write. Once every other month he had even allowed her to write something that she liked to write about. Whatever had caught her attention enough to write about it. But here, she wasn't allowed t write on account of the villains learning her _true_ purpose for coming into Disney in the first place.

"Miss Ayman?"

She jerked her head up and gave a strained smile in the speakers direction. "Yes Eric."

The young Prince stood in front of her holding out a paper. She took it gingerly. "What is this?"

"It's a columb. A new one I wanted to suggest. About fishing and such. You know, we go out and catch stuff. And then we document it on the-"

"Eric, just stop. Stop, okay?"

"… wh-what?"

She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Think about this Eric, okay. Really _really_ think about it. Around a quarter of the people in this entire place have some sort of relationship with fish and ocean life and whatever the hell you call it."

"Yes, but-"

"And a small portion of those people _are_ fish. Or at least half fish. Isnt your wife one of them."

"I guess but it's-"

"Stupid. Now scrap it and move on."

"But-"

"I said scrap it, Eric. I really suggest you do just that."

He swallowed so loudly she could almost hear his pride going down. "Yes, Ma'am. I'll just go do… something."

"Good. So glad we understand each other."

He nodded numbly and backed away, slinking towards his desk.

She sighed loudly once she knew he was out of earshot and pinched the bridge of her nose. This day had been hectic. Already half of the people who worked under her had left to be with their families, something she could understand just enough, but not enough to really tolerate it. She needed them here, otherwise the weight of this fake job Mickey had pushed on her as an alibi became too much. She hated it. She wasn't an editor or a government researcher person or whatever fake job he had given her. He had mixed it all up. And now she both had to study their government, a subject she found horribly boring, and be an editor, a position she absolutely _loathed_.

And now she was stuck doing more then half the work because of the god damned holiday.

And to top that off, Mickey had set her up on a blind date. Again. She hated them so much. If he was going to try and set her up with a prince, it would have made more sense to set her up with one that actually had personality. So far she felt like the settings that they were put in, romantic tables in candle lit gardens and such, were too much. If he wanted to put them somewhere suitable he may as well have shrunk them with magic and stuffed them into a Barbie house. At lest then it would have fit her dates ken-like personality.

She rubbed at her temples wishing she had a coffee. Or at least some sort of alcohol. Anything that would make the day a little more bearable.

A buzz in her pocket woke her from her depressed stupor. Se reached into her pocket, drawing out her cell phone. She wasn't actually supposed to use it in the office, that was what the ancient phone on her desk was for, but a glare towards anyone who so much as glanced her way and thought about telling shut out any ideas of ratting her out. She stared at the name and groaned so loudly a few of the people at their desks jumped.

The name _Mother Rabbit_ blinked on her screen. She opened her phone and hesitated before closing her eyes and gathering just enough of her energy to even talk to this woman on the phone.

She took a deep breath, getting ready to slather on the sugar. "Helloooo?"

"Mrs. Ayman? This is Mother Rabbit."

"Oh! Mother Rabbit! What a… pleasant… surprise!" She seethed through her teeth. Mother Rabbit, as she had later learned, was one of the Rabbits in the Disney version of Robin Hood. She had never seen the movie, but from how the Rabbit treated her, she was sure that she wouldn't be seeing it anytime soon. With all of the time she spent against her will with the villains of the land Mother Rabbit had created a deep seated hatred of the young woman and had done everything in her power to keep her children away from her. And that included stories on how she ate young rabbits for dinner, or something along those lines.

That story was forced to be shifted in the slightest amount when her second oldest, and still very young, son Skippy had met Lillie in the Disney Public Library. The second grader had been doing terribly in school to the point of failing. The education system she had quickly learned was one that left no slack to any grade at any point. The poor boy (rabbit?) was doing terribly in his English section of class. And on the day he had met her she had looked over his shoulder at the subject she had mastered in every school, from elementary to college. And even though he was scared speechless by her, he did accept her help. And after a few tutoring sessions, behind his mothers back of course, his grade had begun to go up with a drastic curve. Or course this left him with a suspicious mother.

When the mother had found out she had been less then enthusiastic and more then happy to show it. She had created an obvious amount spite towards Lillie. However, her son's grades _did_ improve. So, in a grin-and-bear it kind of fashion she did allow the tutoring sessions to continue. Lillie made her pay, of course. Because of their financial situation she had tried to be fair with the amount of pay. But she was in a financial situation of her own, and so needed the money. She had hoped, though, that the amount of pay would have at least made the older woman appreciate her. But no, the woman had no amount of room in her clogged arteries to like, or at least _appreciate_, Lillie. Tutoring drop offs were more like a Mexican standoff then a drop off.

And the amount of tension was enormous. With villains living all around her, both mother and son were constantly on watch like a deer in the headlights, while she was left with nothing but annoyance for the dastardly people. She coped, they did nothing of the sort.

"Yes, I'm sure it was." Mother Rabbit continued. "Listen, I know that it's Christmas, but I was wondering if you were open to tutor Skippy. He had a test tomorrow and-"

"Drop him off at seven." She sighed. "I'll see what I can do."

"Unexeptable."

"Pardon?"

"I need you at five."

"But that's… that's not really…"

"I'll drop him off. And keep those abominations of neighbors you have away from my son." And with that she hung up.

Lillie stared at the phone, a scream of anger bubbling at her throat. "Perfect… just perfect…"

Now she had no night time for herself either. She was hoping to just lock her door, yell at carolers to leave her alone and then down some made up sorrows in freshly baked rum glazed ginger bread. Now she'd have no time to bake unless she rushed, and she'd only have enough time to make one.

"Miss Ayman? I have the beeeest idea! How about a fashion column using, wait for it, hair and not cloth! HUH!"

Lillie glanced up at Rapunzel and raised her eyebrow. This day was just getting worse by the moment.

* * *

When she finally got home at 4:30 her feet hurt, her head was pounding, she felt a cold coming on and she was starving after having not eaten either dinner the other night from writing her actual article and being too busy, and on top of that not even eating breakfast or lunch. She clamored up the stairs, ignoring the sounds of the villains from their rooms that she was sure would keep her up all night, and the smells of cigars and pipes and cigarettes that fumed green smoke throughout the halls. She got into her apartment and dropped her briefcase to the floor, kicking off her heels and leaning on the door, groaning.

A knock on the door made her want to curl up and yell piss off, but she answered it anyway.

Standing there with a wide smirk on his face was Hades, looking very sure of himself.

"Wh-aaa-aat?" She whined. "Not nooooow!"

"Just wanted to tell you that we accidentally smoked you're garden."

She stared at him for a moment. Then she just shrieked and slammed the door in his face. Running towards her porch she let out another shriek of anger seeing all of her plants, all of her flowers, all of her time and effort keeping them alive during even the snowless, yet very bitter, winter.

"Sorry bout that babe!" Came the jeering shout.

"Oh put a sock in it flame head!"

The laughing outside of her door told her that her insult hadn't really hit hard. But it had been enough to make him leave, walking down the hall back to his room and laughing all the way.

She huffed loudly and headed outside, hugging her arms and inspecting her plants. Yes, they were done. Totally burnt and crisped and dead. All of her colors and hard work gone until the beginning of the next season.

Her phone buzzed again and she yanked it from her pocket. "H-h-hello?" She rubbed her right arm with her left, free, hand. Goose bumps were forming like mountains on her arms.

"We're downstairs." Came the ever pleasant voice of Mother Rabbit. "Are there any of… them… in sight?"

"N-n-n-no. Sen-send him u-up." She chattered, trying to keep her anger down. "I'm r-ready."

The phone clicked without even a goodbye. She exhaled, watching her thick breath float upward and then fade away. She cupped a small bud in her hand. It crumbled into ash in her palm and she growled. Sometimes she really did hate her life.

* * *

"Alright now. Tell me what's going on." Skippy had successfully made it up to the apartment and was now sitting on the end of her couch, his books spread out onto the table. A cup of hot chocolate that Lillie had made on his arrival sat steaming next to him on a side table.

As much as Lillie disliked the mother, there was no way she could dislike her kid. He was cute as a button and smart as a whip. The sweetest kid she had met around the town and he seemed to be one of the only ones not afraid of her.

"Well, we're reading a Christmas Carol."

"Oooh!" She stirred the batter of her ginger bread furiously but took a break to look up and smile genuinely up at him. "That is one of my favorites."

"Yeah, well, I don't like it much." He took a slurp of the hot chocolate. He looked around at her, placing it back down and twisting around to kneel on the couch and face the kitchen.

"Why not pun'kin?"

"I don't get the whole ghost thing. And the whole Scrooge thing either. I mean, why's the man so mean?" He asked, waving his hands animatedly.

"Well…" She placed her spoon into the batter and liked off her ring finger which was covered in rum. "I guess it's just because he doesn't have the spirit. That was the lesson that the author was trying to teach. You know." She lowered her voice and pointed her finger towards the sky, striking a pose. "Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and heaving sea-on, on-until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the look-out in the bow, the officers who had the watch; dark, ghostly figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had remembered those he cared for at a distance, and had known that they delighted to remember him." She dropped her act and laughed at the amazed look on his face.

"You remembered all of that?"

"I _told_ you it was one of my favorites."

They were quiet for a few minutes and Skippy wrote down a few notes, jotted down some quotes including the one she had dictated and looked over some things that they had discussed in earlier conversations. All the while she got out as many pans as she could and poured the rich, coffee colored, batter into each. Then reached in her cabinets for more to get ready for the next few branches.

"Hey, Miss Lillie?"

"Yeah Skippy?" She hopped off of a stool she was using and placed a thing of flour on the counter, dusting her hands off onto her pants.

"Why don't you have a Christmas tree?"

She looked at him for a moment, tilting her head and jutting out her lower lip in thought. "I don't… I don't know! I guess I just was never raised to have one."

"Do you want one?"

"Not really. I don't have the time to get one and there's no presents to put under it."

"What about tinsel?"

She shrugged, pouring flower into the large bowl. "I don't know. I was never into colors."

"That isn't true. You have you're garden!"

She stiffened. "Yes. I suppose that I do… did… have my garden."

"Yeah. What happened to it?"

Again Lillie just shrugged, swallowing hard. "It was in the line of fire, hon. But I guess I'd be used to that by now, huh."

"Do you… like Christmas?"

"Uuuummmm…" She squinted at a measurement she was pouring, getting lower to see it at eye level and trying to reach perfection. "Well, I don't _not_ like Christmas. How about that?"

"So you don't like it but… you don't _not_ like it?"

"Exactly."

He scratched the top of his head. "Why don't you like it?"

"Like I said before, pun'kin. I just wasn't raised to like Christmas. It's like I have a kind of mutual friendship with it. Not really a love."

"Aren't you like that for almost everything?"

"Seems like I am. Now, why don't you get back to that book. If you don't study then you're mother is going to kill me. And then you. And then me. Again."

He nodded silently and went back to his book. She watched him, waiting for another question. And when none came she went back to her batter, stirring and pouring and measuring. It wasn't until a few minutes later when the most surprising of them all hit her.

"Do you think the villains celebrate Christmas?"

She spluttered. She hadn't really thought about it. Nor had she wanted too. "Um… Skippy… I don't think that-"

"Should we bring them something?"

"Skippy, I really don't-"

"I mean… I'm not scared of them or anything. Honest!"

She chuckled lightly at the false statement and just shook her head. "I really think that maybe we shouldn't-"

"They're just like Scrooge, right?"

Lillie stopped at that and thought. "Why do you say that, hon?"

"Well," he flipped through his book. "They really don't have anyone. And they're all alone, all the time. And they have no spirit and no cheer. And they act all bitter and stuff. So maybe they're like Scrooge! Can we do something, Miss Lillie? Huh, can we?"

Lillie looked over the counter at his enthusiastic fact, leaning her elbow on the fake granite. "You know what Skippy? You are a _lot_ smarter then you're teacher give you credit for."

"Yeah. I know."

She laughed at his cockiness. "Tell you what. We finish that book now, and then after we'll take these" she held up one of the finished gingerbreads, "to whatever people you want. Okay?"

"Okay." He looked down at the book, then back up at her. "Hey Miss Lillie?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you not call them villains?"

She inhaled deeply. Oh how Disney formed the children. Telling them that there was a clear cut line between good and evil. Nothing in between. And she was learning very quickly that they were incredibly scared of what was in between. Including her. "Well, what are villains?"

"Bad and evil, I think?"

Yup. So clear cut it was like chopping a strait line through a block. "Okay… but what are they?"

He seemed to be straining himself on that one.

She finally gave him a hint. "What was Scrooge?"

"He was a really mean man who-"

And she saw it. The light hitting his face in that one second. "He was a person, wasn't he!" Skippy exclaimed. Then his face became somber. "And… so are they…"

She nodded. "Hon. As much as they annoy me, bother me, kill me and want to make me destroy them on a daily basis, they are still people. With feelings and all. Just like you and me."

Skippy paused, then nodded thoughtfully. "I think we should give them gingerbread."

"I think that sounds like a great idea. And hon, I love giving you life lessons. But I think that maybe we shouldn't tell you're mother about this. K?"

He nodded frantically. He still didn't fully get it, anyway. She understood that. But enough. He understood it enough, for now at least.

"Okay, good. Now who was the ghost the Scrooge first met?"

"Marley."

"Correct. Onto the next one."

* * *

They had studied for about another hour until the book, and all the gingerbreads, were finished. It was already almost six thirty and his mother wasn't coming for at least another hour. Together they sat a the counter. Well, she sat at one of her bar stools and he kneeled on a small stack of books. They grabbed at her plastic wrap, tearing it off into sheets and wrapping up all of the gingerbreads. Two out of the fifteen she had made didn't survive the process, crumbling under their touch. But she just shrugged, saying she'd keep them.

Finally, every single one of them was wrapped with at least a half an hour to spare. She found a spare laundry basket in her closet and they piled the delicious bricks in, one at a time. They did leave the apartment with good time and wandered down the hall.

"So, tell me Skip. Where do you want to go first?"

"Um… who lives there?" He pointed to the door across from her own.

"_That_ is where Madame Madussa lives."

"Oh… do you think we can do her later?"

Lillie gave him an amused look, raising her eyebrow and smirking, placing her fist of her hip. "What happened to _not_ being scared?"

"I-I-I'm not scared! Just… just… thinking of an order we can deliver these. A-and she's one of the last ones. Yeah… she's last s'all."

"Ooooh! I see! Yes, makes total sense. So who would you recommend we visit first."

"Well… who lives there?"

"Captain Hook."

"Yeah, he's one of the last ones too."

She just laughed and shook her head. "Okay then, whose first?"

Skippy squinted and turned his head first down the hall to the left then to the right and finally pointed to a door at random. "That one."

She gave him a skeptical glance. "You sure? You don't care who it is?"

"Nope!" He smiled bravely then leaned closer. "But… who is it?"

"That is where Clayton lives."

"Right. Okay. Lets do this."

She shook her head again, but led the way right up to the front of his door. She knocked hard three times and then they both waited.

When Clayton did finally answer he looked very unamused. When he saw who it was he looked even more so.

"What do you want?"

He flashed her best smile, but made sure it was just large enough to look strained. "We," she motioned to Skippy, who scurried behind Lillie's legs. "would like to offer you-"

Clayton slammed the door in their faces.

"Well then. Fine!" She turned to Skippy. "Who next?"

"Uuuuuummm… that one." He said, pointing to a door on her side of the hall.

"Ok then. Jasper Badun it is." They approached the door. She looked down at the small rabbit at her heels. "This time we'll get his attention for more then five seconds."

"Definitely. But how?"

"Oh don't worry. I've got this one in the bag." She knocked.

Jasper was at the door in a few seconds. When he opened it he blinked hard. Then smirked mockingly.

"Ey! Horace, me lad! Look 'oo it is! The charmin' princess and her rodent friend!"

Skippy glared. "I'm not a rodent."

Jasper just sneered. "Well, you ain't abything else, are you." Skippy cowered. He turned towards Lillie. "What in blinkin' 'ell are you doin' here."

"Well, we'd like to offer you gingerbread!" He picked up one of the pricks and held it like a magicians assistant. Just smiling and looking pretty.

Jasper scoffed. "Really?"

"Just in the holiday spirit!"

"You know 'oo I am, right?"

"Yes _Jasper_. And I am here to offer you ginger bread!" She waved it around with no response. "I made it!" Still no response. Finally she just dropped the act. "It is slathered in rum."

"I'll take that thank you were MUCH!" He said, grabbing it hastily and slamming the door.

Skippy looked up at Lillie with admiration. "Wow!"

"Yup. When in doubt just bring up alcohol. You can quote me on that."

* * *

The two of them roamed the halls for a while knocking on doors and trying with their own methods to 'spread the spirit'. Or at least Skippy did. Lillie did it the whole time just to humor him.

During that whole time Lillie kept track of two things. The door slammers and the bread takers. It became like a game for her. So far, to her great surprise, the door slammers were losing to the bread takers. And with even more surprising 'contestants'.

Some of the door slammers had been a no brainer to figure out. Clayton had been the first. Then came the Queen of Hearts, who had added her own special touch of OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! Shere Khan sent then running away, as did good old Scar. The same went for the next floor with Frollo and Pete.

But what had her totally dumfounded was the people who did take the ginger bread. Captain Hook, when they had gotten around to him, had been shocked enough but had bowed and taken it. Drizella had acted like she wanted to decline as had Anastasia but they took it easily enough. Their mother had even followed suit. The Evil Queen took it, but not before trying to hand then apples in return which they politely declined saying with as sad a voice as they could muster that they were allergic to apples in the winter season. A disease they nicknamed 'winterapple-itis'. Very fast thinking on their parts they agreed after the door was closed. Jafar and Iago took it, first allowing time to say how they were lucky two higher up people were even taking offerings from two lowly peasants at which point Lillie had to restrain every nerve in her body from allowing her to smack him. Ursula had taken in. Cruella had as well, but Lillie doubted she would eat it. A few obvious ones like Smee and LeFou. Gaston had taken it, but not after hitting on her first. To which she had responded with a very clear-cut "not if we were the last two people here." She would have said something more explicit had Skippy not been there. They had gone to Facilier's door, which had been opened by his shadow. He had followed close behind, giving Skippy a creepy nod and her a gentlemanly nod and slight bow, tipping his hat to reveal his mass of hair. She had offered him a loaf of bread which he took with a too nice "Well if this isn't the most delicious thing I have eva' seen." And then tried to repay then by reading their cards. They had smiled and said "No." He just shrugged, then retreated back into his room. One of the more stressful ones, the Sheriff of Nottingham, had even taken it with not so much as a bad word towards the Rabbit, a great relief for Lillie herself. And meant bragging rights for Skippy, apparently, for the next century.

They had covered most of the people on the two floors she knew the best. All with incredible results.

But possible the most surprising ones of all were the two she had expected, no, had KNOWN would decline. And they _didn't_.

Maleficent. And Hades.

Maleficent had opened her door and, like all of her greetings, had regarded the two with a cool and collected stare. Lillie, knowing that the fairy would in no way be the first to open the conversation, she did so herself.

"Gingerbread." She tried to keep her voice cool as well. Lifting her chin in a mirror of the green woman she continued, with the slightest wisp of a smile on her face. "For the holidays."

Maleficent had regarded her with a slightly apprehensive stare, but then had taken on a small smile of her own. A cooler and collected version. "Why thank you." She had stated, taking the loaf. And that was it.

Then the door had clicked shut and the exchange was over. But she had taken the gift.

Skippy had been even more surprised then Lillie had. But while Lillie had walked down the hall in a puzzled silence Skippy had soon taken to chatting, boasting his bravery.

"I didn't even back away!" He had puffed out his chest, walking a bit faster. "No siree. Not me! I bet she was scared of me!"

Hades had been the second surprise. When she had knocked it had been his minions, not him, who had opened the door and taken in the strange scene.

"What do you want?" Panic had asked.

"Yeah, sister. What are _you_ doing here."

She had to only narrow her eyes at them to make their attitudes quickly lesson to a more tolerable tone. "_I_ am here to talk to Hades."

"WHO IS IT!" Flames had brushed close to the door frame and the imps coward.

"I-It's the n-new p-princess, your most aweful-ness." Pain had shouted.

"A-and her r-rabbit." Panic had added.

Hades smoked himself to the door and sent the imps screaming away with blasts of flame, then faced the two at the door. One of which had hid behind the other.

"Whad'ya want? Payment for your garden? Not gonna happen, babe."

She tried hard not to snap back. After all, he deserved harsh words. But the whole 'holdiay season' thing Skippy was going for denied her of that pleasure. However her voice didn't help with that apparently, because when she responded with "Just here to give you this" he had snarled.

"Give me what, _babe_."

She said nothing. Just reached into the basket and taken out one of the two remaining loaves. "Merry Christmas. Or Chanukah. Or whatever the Hell you celebrate."

He had a very brief stare down with the thing, but then taken it gingerly. "How do you know what I even celebrate?"

"Hmm?" She tilted her head, not expecting a conversation to be made.

"How do you even know I even celebrate anything?"

"Well then… I guess we'll have to come up with a new way of spreading holiday cheer."

"That would be incredibly helpful." He showed his teeth in a not so unfriendly smile. "It would take away all that pressure of the perfect door to door greeting crap you have going on."

She smirked. "I guess it would."

He nodded. "Well. Thanks for…"

"It's ginger bread. Oh. And be careful when you handle it. It's covered in alcohol. Wouldn't want you starting any fires or anything."

"Ooooh! Thanks for the tip, babe."

"You're very welcome. Come on Skippy, you're mom'll have a fit if we're not outside soon." She spun on her heel and marched back down the hall.

Then a quick thought entered her mind. She tunred quickly, her basket swinging and bouncing off her thigh as she did, but she ignored it.

"HEY HADES!"

The god stopped where he was, half closing the door, and poked his head out the door, waiting.

She gave him a crooked smile. "Have a very satisfactory non-denominational capitalist wintertime gift-giving season."

He laughed and shook his head. "Right back at you, babe."

"Oh, and Hades?"

"Yeah?"

She let her smile drop and gave him as evil of an eye as she could muster up. "You owe me new flowers."

He only snorted and slammed the door.

Lillie stared down the hall for a few moments, wondering what had happened. She had just had a not totally unpleasant conversation with someone she hated on a regular basis.

Huh.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

Speak of the devil.

She turned to face a very upset Mother Rabbit who was practically smoking at the long fur ears and stomping down the all. Lillie definitely saw murder in her eyes.

"WHAT IN THE LORDS GOOD NAME HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO MY SON!"

"We were handing out gingerbread to the neighbors." She stated. "It wasn't his idea. It was mine."

"THE NEI- THOSE VILLAINS? YOU LET MY SON-"

"He wasn't in any danger, Mrs. Rabbit."

"YOU BETTER BELIEVE HE WAS IN DANGER!" She grabbed her sons hand and pulled her blue shawl tighter around her shoulders. "Miss Ayman, you are lucky I am as kind as I am-"

_Suuuure you are lady_.

"I will allow my son to be tutored by you. But one more slip up-"

"Slip up?" Now she was mad. "Slip up? With all due respect Mrs. Rabbit, I did not _slip up_."

"Then what did you do?"

"I actually taught your son something that you refuse to."

"And what would that be."

"I taught him to-" she opened her mouth, wanting to scream until she was hoarse that she had taught her son about the meaning of being a person. No matter animal or hero or villain or whatever. That they were all respected and needed to be respected and…

But instead she just sighed. "You know what. Never mind. I am done wasting my time with you."

Mother Rabbit humphed and turned her nose in the air. "Come along Skippy, we're leaving."

"But Mama-"

"I said we're _leaving_." And then she dragged him away.

As she was dragging her son away Lillie's brain shot her with an idea. She smiled and took a few steps forward. "Hey Mother Rabbit!"

The woman looked back.

Lillie reached into her basket and took out the last of the loaves. She threw it and the older animal caught it, taken aback.

"Have a very nice Christmas."

The woman looked ready to snap, but also looked done fighting for the time. She she just gave Lillie a nasty look and left, dragging her son with her.

Lillie stood there for a while watching them go. It still didn't make any sense to her. Why such a sweet boy would be raised by her. Or why a person labeled as a hero could think the way she did. Think the way ANY of them did. It baffled her to no end.

She shook her head to clear away the thoughts. It wasn't the time for that. She had to go and clean up her kitchen.

She sighed and trudged down the short distance it took to get to her apartment. When she reached it she greeted her dog, who had been asleep on her bed the entire time and who, after wagging his tail went strait back to doing exactly that. She put down the basket on the floor and slowly made her way to the kitchen. Grabbing two of the many baking pans she put them into the sink and turned on the water, waiting for it to get hot.

It was then that she smelled something.

Something really familier.

She took a deep whiff of the air. Yes, it was something very familiar. Something she knew well. She took another smell, then another, and followed the trail her nose led her on.

It took her to her back door which she had left open, just a crack. Her window was covered in a heavy layer of fog, created by the cold meeting the warmth from the oven on in her apartment. She wiped away a small circle of it and squinted through.

Then she smiled.

Opening her door she went onto her small balcony and admired all of the flower pots that covered it, now all full with her flowers. Alive and well.

As she scanned them her attention was caught by a timy white thing that dangled on the step of a daisy. It was a card. She ripped it off and opened it.

_Thanks for the bread. It was good. And lets keep all of this to ourselves, okay? And if you don't… well… you know the drill._

_Have a very satisfactory non-denominational capitalist wintertime gift-giving season._

_Hades, Lord of the Underworld_

Lillie broke out into a full grin and rolled her eyes.

Maybe she could get used to this Christmas time thing.

But probably not.

* * *

**Aaaaaand that's it! I hope you enjoyed this "Christmas Special" even though Cristmas is behind us. Oh well. It took me a while, as you can tell by the length. For those who would like to know, this document on my computer took up a whoping 21 pages. Yup. Loooong story. For a oneshot at least.**

**So, now I will leave you all be. **

**And, although it is late, may I wish you all a very satisfactory non-denominational capitalist wintertime gift-giving season.**

**~Galimatias**


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